Goggl’d, leather’d and astride a BSA. Here’s a lass with every intention of getting down the road with confidence. It’s great that there are a lot more riders of the fairer sex than pillions. Motorcycles are for everyone! Vendredi is Venus’s Day.
November 14, 2013
…don’t take away my Kodachrome
Nikon have launched this new digital SLR… And what a corker it looks too! Just like my old brass edged F3. But at $2800 for the body only way out of my reach…
November 13, 2013
Ewan
Vintage moto taken for a spin by our Scottish actor pal Ewan McGregor. Norton is the bike. A Jedi the rider is…
November 12, 2013
Les liens du sang
The Englishman’s Englishman Clive Owen fly’s under the radar is most mainstream films. His low key characters are played seemingly effortlessly without too much fuss. Always a worthwhile watch. His latest offering is a 70’s crime thriller set in New York NY about two brothers separated by the law: Blood Ties.
Billy Crudup is his sibling and here they ride a period Triumph Bonneville, much like mine the Oil in Frame model of that time. Owen on pillion. The jackets are class! I had a tan blazer like that for wearing down the pub… Clive’s character gets to marry Mila Kunis’….. Not bad for an acting role! Look at that three piece suit! I didn’t have one of those for popping to the local!
November 11, 2013
Eleven Eleven the eternal memory
A pair of motorcycle army couriers seek relief from the front during the horrendous hostilities of World War 1. Photo courtesy of The Imperial War Museum.
The Triumph model H single cylinder 550cc motorcycle was a true precursor to the Twentieth Century’s history of British ‘cycles. It was the first Triumph to have a single cam wheel with 2 cams instead of separate cam wheels for the inlet and exhaust valve. The entirely new cylinder casting had a larger valve head diameter and the valves were spaced further apart. Another great improvement over the 1914 style 3-speed hub is the Sturmey Archer countershaft gearbox: allowing for heavier and stronger gearing. Furthermore the primary chain drive was enclosed by an aluminium protective cover.
The Model H became a dependable and successful moto with some 30,000 supplied to the British and allied forces during the Great War.
Here’s a beautiful portrait of the engine by the esteemed motorcycle photographer Daniel Pierce.
In 1916 the war was well and truly in its bloodiest hour with the Battle of the Somme at its core. 57,000 casualties on the FIRST DAY. One can’t imagine… But one can’t forget either.
November 10, 2013
An excellent vintage
Sommeliers say 1969 is a fine year for Burgundy wines; likewise the crimson red wine color scheme of that particular years Triumph Bonneville is seen as the zenith of the 650 twin carbureted classic. From engine, frame, brakes and overall balanced appearance it really does epitomize the Golden Age of the British motorcycle industry. Here’s my riding buddy Dean Rennie on his fine looking ’69.
It’s particularly good riding along as a pair of twins, when they’re revving in unison it sounds like a DeHavilland Mosquito… Not quite a brace of RR Merlin’s but the provenance of the 650 is worthy enough.
November 9, 2013
Things are looking up!
A sunny sky greeted this early November weekend morning so without much ado the bike was kicked into life and a great ride up through Lake County was had. Leaf fall blew through the woods and grassland of adjacent forest preserves; a skip through Zion along a churned azure Lake Michigan rounded the loop. Roads weren’t too busy so it allowed comfortable progress along the way.
November 8, 2013
Friday Neet
Lad getting together for a weekend on the motorbikes. Leathers, Barbour, bin lids and a good craic. I can eve guess their nicknames; from left to right: Pud’n, Chaz, Peachy, Lofty, and Swiftly Mike. Out for a hare along the A57 from Sheffield to Glossop.
November 7, 2013
Combination Play
Promoting companionship on the open road for the bairns are fun looking sidecar toys…
Back in the past when engines were a novel device on vehicles the cast iron and painted tin toys were the norm. Latter day examples have plastic parts but are nonetheless as fun for the kids of today. A pair of raccoons dressed the part on this cream and red
They even still have the pressed metal examples …
Lastly but not leastly here’s the great Postman Pat and Jess (his black and white cat). Not in his delivery van but a suitably red motorcycle sidecar.
November 6, 2013
Gonzo
He’s the crazy Muppet: getting involved in hare-brained stunts he’s seen here taking to the stage with a Knievelesque motorcycle jump. Ending up in the box where the curmudgeonly Statler & Waldorf mount their wisecracks from.
I was actually looking for Hunter S. Thompson images (the original Gonzo); due to having started to read his late 60’s book about the Hells Angels… More on that at a later date!
Gonzo’s likes are being shot out of cannons, balancing pianos on his nose, hypnotizing chickens, and tap dancing on roller skates on a vat of oatmeal. His only dislike is insurance agents. Seems he has more in common with HST than just a name. Dr Thompson’s ashes were shot out of a cannon…
November 5, 2013
V
“Remember, remember the fifth of November of gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gun powder treason should ever be forgot.”
V is roman numeral five. Morse code is …- which is actually the opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth. Also the sublime Alan Moore graphic novel about a dystopian future Britain under a totalitarian government. The antagonist is V the masked revolutionist who rebels against the fascists not as an individual but an idea.
“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
The mask is a grinning image of Guy Fawkes. Who’s failed conspiracy is celebrated on the fifth of November. It is now the face of Anonymous the global internet based group of hacktivists.
Motorcycles? Nah! They didn’t have them in 1605…
November 4, 2013
1:6
Scale models are a great way to see how things fit together. I loved my Airfix and Matchbox 1:72 tanks, aircraft and their respective dioramas. Here’s a bolt together motorcycle kit; not quite your Tamiya, which would need several hours or days, but what looks like a fun few minutes nonetheless.
You could even use it to see how much restoration you want to carry out on your ’68. Here’s a real one: assembly required…. Much more FUN!
November 3, 2013
Autumn Color
A snatched ride along a sunlit glowing Sheridan Road bounded by the reds, oranges, browns and yellows of the fall canopied trees. Blue-blue skies complemented the golden hues and a cool air kept the lung vigorous. Not bad for an early November spin!
“At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell,
The ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste,
And more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds.
Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
November 2, 2013
The Gift
In honor of Lou Reed here’s an image evoking one of his monologue songs from the Velvet Undergrounds pre-punk White Light\White Heat album. It is read in a stirring welsh lilt by John Cale and tells the story of one Waldo Jeffers whose long distance infatuation with a college girl from Wisconsin, Marsha Bronson, drives him to box himself up and get mailed from Locust PA to her doorstep as a surprise… Needless to say it doesn’t end well when Marsha’s friend Sheila attempts to pry the nailed box open with some sharp metal shears… The rhythmic bass heavy backing track is called Booker T.
The crates contents here is a BSA Spitfire. The 2 gallon two-tone tank denotes a US destined model of this GP carbureted 650 a ton and a quarter capable speed demon.
…. grasped the cutter by both handles, took a deep breath, and plunged the long blade through the middle of the package, through the masking tape, through the cardboard, through the cushioning and (thud) right through the center of Waldo Jeffers head, which split slightly and caused little rhythmic arcs of red to pulsate gently in the morning sun….
November 1, 2013
Dia de Muertos
The Day of the Dead: as celebrated in Mexico, is the time that people give remembrance to deceased friends and family with ofrenda (offerings) of calavera, or sugar skulls; and enjoy the food and beverages of the dead. The dead come to life! Here’s a clay tile decorated with a skeleton riding a vintage moto. It brings fun and jollity to the all to morbid fears of mortality. Ride Pedro Ride!
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